Massive Funding...Massive Headaches for Communities

This was was undoubtedly the year of the electric scooter. Between massive fundraising rounds, lofty valuations and both Uber and Lyft’s entrance into the space, it’s clear these scooters are here for the long haul.

But just because investors have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into these companies in the past year, the electric scooter business is not without its difficulties. In fact, it’s an immensely difficult business with tough unit economics, regulatory challenges on a city-by-city basis, and a ridiculous number of competitors vying for the micro-mobility services market share.

It’s only a matter of time before consolidation becomes the only way to survive and, already, we’ve started to see some early signs of that with Uber’s partnership with Lime, as well as Ford’s acquisition of Spin. Let’s take a look at how the industry got to where it is today.

Next up was Lime, which also got its beginnings as a bike-share company. Also in February, Lime unveiled its take on electric scooters. Since then, Lime has deployed its scooters in over 100 cities in the U.S. and 27 international cities. Lime has also partnered with Uber to offer Lime scooters within the Uber app.

This was was undoubtedly the year of the electric scooter. Between massive fundraising rounds, lofty valuations and both Uber and Lyft’s entrance into the space, it’s clear these scooters are here for the long haul.

But just because investors have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into these companies in the past year, the electric scooter business is not without its difficulties. In fact, it’s an immensely difficult business with tough unit economics, regulatory challenges on a city-by-city basis, and a ridiculous number of competitors vying for the micro-mobility services market share.

It’s only a matter of time before consolidation becomes the only way to survive and, already, we’ve started to see some early signs of that with Uber’s partnership with Lime, as well as Ford’s acquisition of Spin. Let’s take a look at how the industry got to where it is today.

Next up was Lime, which also got its beginnings as a bike-share company. Also in February, Lime unveiled its take on electric scooters. Since then, Lime has deployed its scooters in over 100 cities in the U.S. and 27 international cities. Lime has also partnered with Uber to offer Lime scooters within the Uber app.

Abroad, scooters have also popped up in Tel Aviv, London, Paris and 15 other cities across countries like Spain, Switzerland, Portgual and others.

The regulatory crackdown

Bird, Lime and Spin quickly became known for their strategies of begging for forgiveness rather than first asking for permission. Regulatory challenges for these electric scooter companies abounded in Santa Monica, San Francisco, Austin and other cities around the country.

In San Francisco, the Municipal Transportation Agency conducted a several-months-long process to determine which scooters would be allowed to operate in the city. The city’s permit process came as a result of Bird, Lime and Spin deploying their electric scooters without permission in the city in March. As part of a new city law, which went into effect June 4, scooter companies were not able to operate their services in San Francisco without a permit. Today, just Skip and Scoot are permitted to operate in the city.

Santa Monica, Austin and many other cities have also had their fair share of regulatory hurdles. Still, Lime has more than doubled the number of cities where it operates in the U.S. since June. Meanwhile, the number of cities where scooters in the U.S. has quickly increased from just 33 in August to more than 90 at the time of publication